


Better Than Sabrina

by pandoralily



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Witchcraft, Witches, idk man i'll decide later, romance maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17294693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandoralily/pseuds/pandoralily
Summary: After the traumatising death of her parents Grace Augustine is sent to live with her eccentric lesbian aunts in California, as far from Grace's rainy home in Britain as possible. As if the lack of parents weren't enough, Grace's witch training isn't all it's cracked up to be, between trolls, aliens, and demons, Grace is beginning to wonder if she'll ever find her wand, or if she'll die trying. All she knows is that it's gonna be one hell of a school year.





	1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! I know another fanfic but I just bingewatched all of Trollhunters and 3Below and I couldn't resist!

 

I had a look at the fandom and was surprised how small it was so here is my contribution! An actual real life Trollhunter oc fic! And don't worry Jlaire shippers, I'm not gonna pair Grace with him, they'll be bros but that's it.

 

However, I can't say for a certain tech whiz akiridion ;) he's just so cute!

 

Anyway, I only owe those you do not recognise, like Grace and her witchy world!

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Chapter 1

 

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a young witch in possession of a good passion, must be in want of a wand.”

 

 

Grace Augustine was _not_ having a good day.

 

First, she had been late to school and missed half of her English Lanaguage exam.

Second, she had been late to cheer practice at lunch and missed half of the try-outs.

And thirdly, she had been late to save her parents from an incredibly powerful witch determined to rule the world.

 

Grace Augustine was having the _worst_ day of her life.

 

The hospital monitors beeped loudly in the quiet morning. Grace could hear her aunts talking to the doctors, and the thick blanket draped over her shoulders felt too heavy, too suffocating. Her mind refused to stop repeating the last few hours over and over again.

Her father's head had exploded.

Grace didn't even think such a thing was possible except in movies. It was like when a balloon was filled too much and just popped under the pressure of the air. Only, the balloon contained blood, and eyes just like her own.

Grace squeezed those eyes shut, curling in on herself more as if trying to banish the images in her mind.

Her mother's spine had shattered.

They rallied against her and this time Grace saw her mother's spine pulled from her body once more. She likened it to the revving of a chainsaw, violence and anger in the very action of pulling. Grace was always scared of chainsaw's as a child.

They lay on the ground in a reddish brown heap, almost unrecognisable, but unfortunately Grace did recognise them.

She shook her head again in an attempt to dispell the thoughts.

Aunt Cereza was walking towards her, followed closely by her wife and Grace's paternal Aunt Desdemona. Grace couldn't tear her eyes away from the tiled floor of the hospital, even as she skidded marks of blood from her ruined converse.

Her aunts wouldn't believe her, the police certainly hadn't and the doctors were more concerned for her mental state to pay attention to what was straight in front of them.

Grace did _not_ kill her parents.

She had heard the others whisper that word 'kill', as if Grace was even capable of such a heinous act.

Delinquent. Troublemaker. Grace had been called so many things but murderer was new, and that was the most inaccurate of them all.

Aunt Cereza was kneeling in front of her, the knees of her lovely white dress streaked with red from the floor.

“Gracie,” her aunt said softly, gloved hands grasping her own. Grace lamented her once flawless nails, cracked and caked with dried blood. She nearly chuckled at her vanity. Her parents were _dead_.

“Graceling,” Aunt Desdemona said, standing tall and already dressed for the funeral it appeared. Grace narrowed her eyes at her.

Aunt Cereza caught her wife's eye, “She's in shock, dear, I think she needs to go home,”

Grace leapt up, eyes wide in her panic, “No! Not there! I don't want to go there!” To go home meant she would go alone, without her mother or father, and Grace didn't think she had the right to enter their house without them. It probably still smelled of flowers and roast beef. The food would've gone cold by now, Grace errantly thought.

“Of course you won't be going back there,” Aunt Desdemona said, her spider like hand gently clasped Grace's shoulder, accentuated by the black nails and fluffy coat, “you are coming home with us,”

Grace wiped at her eyes tiredly, “To America?”

“You very well can't stay here, unless you feel it best?” Aunt Cereza said kindly, her comforting presence washing over Grace.

“No...” Grace said quietly, “but what about the f-fu,” she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Aunt Desdemona opened her journal planner, “already organised, Graceling, we will leave shortly after, for the time being we will stay at a hotel.”

Aunt Cereza nodded, “and, if you like, we can go to the house afterwards and you can pack a few thi-”

“No,” Grace said firmly, staring defiantly at her aunts, “I don't want to go back, not ever.”

Her aunts smiled gently, but Grace could see the underlying pity behind them. She wanted to scream, to rage and fight everything that came her way, but Grace knew that it was fruitless. Her parents would never come back, and that was her own fault.

“Let's go...” Grace said, sliding off the cold plastic chair and handing her blanket back to a nurse.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Grace almost wanted to applaud her Aunt Desdemona's organisation skills. The funeral was a beautiful affair, filled with flowers and expensive coffins. Even Grace's own dress was elegant and made of the finest silk. She hated it.

Aunt Cereza insisted that she say goodbye to her parents properly, but Grace had no words left. It was as if her throat had swollen and stolen her voice from her. She couldn't even find tears to spill anymore.

Her mother's face was as cold and beautiful as ever, fragile like Grace's own, and echoed of a lifetime spent in comfort. She showed her station, and Grace was impressed that the funeral home had managed to replace her spine so well.

Grace's father was not nearly in as good condition as his wife. It was clear that not all the pieces of his head had been found, and those that were ha dbeen in terrible condition. The mask her wore was beautiful though, and Grace found a morbid part of her wanted to lift it and see what was underneath.

She gripped her quartz necklace to fight the urge.

“Come along,” Aunt Desdemona said, guiding Grace away by her shoulder, “there is much to do,”

Grace had no idea just how right her Aunt's words were.

The next few months passed by in a blur, Grace had moved into her Aunts' estate in California, a quaint town called Arcadia Oaks, and she existed between a precarious place of living and existing. She ate and she slept, she went to school and received good grades, but Grace could feel the hollowness eating at her from the inside. She had nightmares of her parents' death and Grace dutifully ignored the hallucinations that haunted her.

Claire was nice. She was the local councilwoman's daughter and head of the theatre club. She showed Grace around school when she joined, and didn't speak ask her to repeat anything in her 'weird English accent'. Grace appreciated it.

There was also the other goth kid that Grace got along with. Angry and against the world, Grace found familiar comfort in the resentment Adeline let out. Delinquent. That word once again floated around Grace, and she found that this time she cared little for it.

Her parents were dead, murdered in front of her by creatures Grace swore she knew were not of this world. How many other kids could say that?

“Harder!” Grace was pulled out of her reverie by Aunt Desdemona as she hurled another hex at her. Grace barely managed to block it with her ward.

“You are distracted,” Aunt Cereza said, looking up from the grand piano, “and you're distraction will get you killed,”

Grace rolled her eyes, “at least I wouldn't have to this anymore,” she muttered under her breath, dodging another hex from Aunt Desdemona.

“Graceling,” Aunt Desdemona said, voice stern and eyes steely, “if you do not focus then you will never learn to control your magic. Witches may be born with inherently with magic but we still must put in the effort and dedication to master our art, if we do not-”

“then it explodes out of us and kills everything in nearby? Yeah, I got that better than anyone,” Grace said sardonically, rushing forwards and summoning another ward, preparing a fireball in her other hand.

Aunt Cereza sighed heavily, “you are thoughtless and ungrateful, but you also come from a strong bloodline, you must master our arts or suffer,”

Grace shrieked as she dodged Aunt Desdemona's ice spike, using her ward to bounce back the snow flurry spell hurled at her. Aunt Desdemona didn't let up, and Grace could feel the air leave her lungs as it rushed around her. A hurricane? No, Aunt Desdemona would conjure up a hurricane in her own home unless necessary.

“I'm alreay suffering!” Grace screamed, magic sparking from her fingertips as she punched Aunt Desdmona in the face.

Aunt Desdemona shifted positions, prepared to battle with fists as well as spells. Grace pummelled her firey fists against her aunt's wards, pushing Aunt Desdemona back with every hit that landed. She was only fuelling her wards, Aunt Desdemona was exceedingly talents, and the conversion of hostile energy magic into her wards was a simple task.

Grace yelled and ounched and kicked, she could feel raw magic flowing beneath her skin, and as her fist got hotter and hotter, Grace swore that red lines of magic spluttered out from beneath her skin pores. Anger was present, and Grace could feel the waves of magic encouraging her, whispering dark deeds and silent promises in her ear if she just let go.

“Enough!” Aunt Desdemona shouted, her ward taking the brunt of the blow Grace dealt but she could see how her aunt had staggered from the force.

Grace gasped, eyebrows scrunching in worry as she realised that she had taken their sparring to far, _again._

“Control your anger, lest it control you!” Aunt Desdemona said fiercly, wand pointed directly at Grace.

Grace raised her hands in the universal surender sign.

Her aunts' left the ballroom and Grace slunk down onto the marble tiling, head in her hands.

Aunt Desdemona nearly used her wand. In all of their time sparring, she had never once raised her wand against her. Grace wasn't even _allowed_ to have a wand yet, and she had evoked enough fear in her stalwart Aunt Desdemona to unveil her greatest weapon.

At leats she was improving, Grace thought, it would've been worse if she had sorely lost their duel.

Grace sighed, gathering her leather satchel by the front doors and began to walk to school.

All she wanted to do as prove herself. Magic had been a part of her for years that never left. She had inherited from her parents and the only thing she truly wanted to do was master it to see them one more time.

To say goodbye, properly.

But Grace knew that if her aunts found out then all hope of magic training would be all but a reality. Necromancy was strictly forbidden on pain of death. But it wasn't as if Grace planned on actually resurrecting them, even she wasn't that rebellious. Grace just wanted to contact them or something, and no amount of carnival 'oracles' would ever be able to get her what she wanted more than actual real magic.

She didn't even have a wand yet. She didn't even know when she would get one. ' _The wand will reveal itself_ ', that's what her mother used to say. Every wand was different, some were pencils or needles, others lipstick or wooden spoons. It was impossible to say which wand would call to which witch, or wizard, but Grace didn't even have an inkling of an idea.

Aunt Desdemona's was her red lipstick tube that never ran out, and when applied her magic increased tenfold, it was clear that having a wand was a massive advantage over not having one.

Aunt Cereza had a beautiful fan inherited from her grandmother's coven, and was partial to wind magic because of it. Grace remembered being entranced by the dancing women and brave bull fighters that flitered about the paper fan, unaware that their world was conditional on Aunt Cereza's magic.

Grace cursed, knowing her luck she'd get a twig, or a gluestick, as a wand.

Arcadia Oaks High School was like every other school in America which made Grace shiver in annoyance. She didn't like saying the pledge of allegiance every morning, she wasn't even American! But she felt so uncomfortable listening to kids swear away their lives to a country that didn't even promise to protect them.

She had heard about the illegal immigrants here, the one's that Seamus' dad had called ICE on. It was wrong. Grace was disgusted.

But there was a bright side to American schooling, and that was the cheer squad.

Her aunts had urged her to carry on with her favourite hobbies, and while cheer was at the top of that list, Grace found that her fashionable witchy goth aesthetic didn't quite fit in with what the other cheerleaders wanted, and Grace would be damned if she changed her place to please them. She would never be so shallow, though she was sorely tempted too.

“Hey, Augustine, got any frogs to eat?” Steve Palchuck taunted from behind her.

Grace rolled her eyes, “People eat frogs' legs in France not England, Palchuck,” she corrected, scrunching her face in distate, “looks like you're going to need that extra curricular geography sessions,”

“Hey!” Steve, shouted, clearly offended, “I know exactly where England is,”

Grace shook her head, sneering, “I mean, that wasn't even what my comment was about but okay, I'll take it, now get lost,” she yelled back, flipping her finger at Steve.

He shouted something at her, Grace didn't hear what, as she quickly ran into her classroom, ignoring Steve's glaring eyes.

She sat down, bag thumping heavily against the old wood as Adeline whistled lowly from beside her.

“What happened now? Your aunt beat you up again?” She teased, fluffing her brown-green dyed hair.

Grace huffed sourly, crossing her arms as she slouched in her chair, “No, that's always the height of my day,” she said sarcastically, “and I'm literally in shock at out dumb Steve Palchuck is,”

“You better watch out,” the kid in front of Grace turned around, eyes wide, “Steve Palchuck isn't one to mess with,”

Grace snorted, “Where have you been, Claire? Everyone knows I can handle him,”

Claire frowned, “you shouldn't go picking fights, and anyway,” she looked a little nervous, Grace noticed, “does it even matter where I've been?”

“It does when you don't do your half of the homework,” Grace shot back.

Claire jumped, slapping a hand to her face, “What! Oh man, I forgot our literature assignment!”

Grace scowled, “no need to tell me that, I already know, I also already know that you haven't even read Pride and Prejudice, yet,”

The girl giggled nervously, a sheepish expression on her face, “I read the synopsis?”

Grace scoffed, “The synopsis, Claire what's going on? You used to always be on top of our classes,” she questioned.

“I know,” Claire heaved a sigh, disappointment in her voice, “I juts have a lot going on right now, more than you can imagine,”

“Try me,” Grace challenged.

They stared at each other for minutes, neither wanting to break the silence.

Claire knew she had forgotton something. But between her Trollhunting duties and the rest of her school life something was bound to slip, and unfortuantely it happened to be her _only_ partner project. She just hoped that Grace would forgive her.

Eventually, Grace broke the silence first.

“I bullet point listed all the most important information you need to write your half, and cross-referenced against other sources. All you need to do is write it coherently.” Grace said, handing Claire her notebook.

Claire squealed, “Thank you! Thank you! It won't happen again!” She grinned, Grace just rolled her eyes, fighting the grin that threatened to reveal itself.

Senor Uhl began the class, and already Grace could feel her grasp of Spanish fail even quicker. She had been better at Welsh, back in Britain, when she had lived in the rolling Brecon Beacons, but that was a lifetime agao, and now she had to learn Spanish. Or try to, at least.

Grace stopped trying to listen to Senor Uhl halfway through, instead she was more focused on finding her wand.

Beneath her desk, Grace waved her fingers gently, trying to detect the strings of fate beyond the veil. Her blood thrummed beneath her skin, and Grace scrunched her face up as the tingling increased, it was beginning to become uncomfortable.

Aunt Desdemona had taught her how to call for her wand, a trinket of a spell that all witches and wizards must learn, and even after years of trying, Grace had not felt a stirring in the veil, not even a hint of her wand.

Her hand was starting to shake, heart hammering away in her chest and Grace felt her breath leave her lungs.

She yelped, and let go of the veil.

“Senorita Augustine!” Senor Uhl shouted at her, “What are you doing?!” he was leaning on her desk, angry face a bright red beacon that Grace shivered at.

“My fingers are bleeding...” Grace stuttered, gingerly raising her hand. True to her word, blood ran down from the tips of her fingers and dripped onto her open notebook.

Grace couldn't look away from her hand.

Senor Uhl was saying something to her, she couldn't really make out what, and she was vaguely aware of Adeline touching her shoulder. Claire was peering at her with concern, and was that Jim Lake she saw? Grace didn't care enough to look again, and her head was beginning to pound.

Bile was rising in her throat, pushing up with the breathless panic as her vision continued narrowing. The smell of blood was over powering, and Grace was entranced by the deep red, but it ws beyond the red, beyond her vision in the corner of her eyes that she saw something that wracked her body with shivers.

There was _something_ by the door, a creature or whatever, Grace didn't know.

“Grace!” Adeline shouted, shaking Grace out of her reverie.

The whole class was looking at her.

“Sorry, Senor, I-I need to go to the nurse...” she said quietly, eyes darting between Senor Uhl and the creature.

Her teacher smiled understandingly, no doubt her parents' deaths were recorded on her school records, an explanation for her _delinquincy_.

If only they knew.

“That's alright, Senorita Augustine, you can take a friend with you,” he said and Adeline stood up instantly, shoving her pencil case into her skull backpack.

“I..uh,” Grace said, “I've gotta,” she stood quickly, knocking Senor Uhl out of the way, “I gotta go...” the creature had noticed her advance and gave a loud squark.

Grace looked at her classmates, but none of them seemed to see the creature, or the weird black goop falling off of it as it liquified its form and slid beneath the door, as soon as it noticed Grace's stare.

It was magical, Grace thought as she rushed through the door, her teacher calling after her, it had to be. Maybe it was soot pixie? Grace quickly dismissed the thought, the soot pixies in her aunts' fireplace were nothing like that. Maybe it was just an unfortunate goblin covered in black paint? No, the liquid was too thick for that.

Whatever it was, Grace knew she had to find it and contain it before it revealed itself, intentionally or not.

It could be ghoul, Grace reasoned, but she had never actually seen one in real life before

“I'll make sure she gets there,” Adeline said, helping Grace pack up her things.

She couldn't see it clearly, a black gloopy mass with long arms and a single large eye that stared directly into her. Grace gulped, staring at the creature behind Shannon.

Senor Uhl was no longer red though, which Grace supposed was a good thing.

“They left the classroom, unaware to the suspicious stare of one particular student.

That was weird, right?” Toby whispered to his best friend Jim.

Jim nodded, “yeah, poor girl, I heard her parents died and she got kicked out of her last school for bad behaviour,” he crossed his arms, shaking his head, “I may be a Trollhunter but at least my mom is still alive,”

Toby was frowning, and Jim realised his error, “sorry! I don't mean that her parents dying has anything to do with it, it's just...” he trailed off at Toby's expression.

“My parents' death didn't make me go bad,” Toby muttered, “it's hard for her too,”

Claire glared at the boys, “stop gossiping, that's just going to make it worse for her in the long run,” she advised.

Jim nodded, “I guess, I just hope she works out whatever is going on,”

“It's something weird though, right?” Toby interjected, “No one's fingers just start bleeding like that, like it was just seeping out of her skin, and she was really pale!” Toby pointed out.

“Y'know I think he might be right, we should keep an eye on her,” Claire said, looking imploringly at Jim.

He nodded his compliance, “Alright, fine, but I really don't think there's anything weird or troll-like going on,” Jim stated, crossing his arms.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a young witch in possession of a good passion, must be in want of a wand.” - adapted from the famous Pride and Prejudice quote, I hope to do something like this every chapter but idk let's see how it goes

 

I loved writing this! I actually wrote the first and second chapter as one but it was so long for a first chapter I had to split it half!

 

Please let me know what you think!

 EDIT: I read back over and notice some stuff that I missed last time so i edited to make the story run more smoothly

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

“It can take years to develop a craft”

“Which craft are you involved in? Which craft are you involved in?”

“Witchcraft? Who said anything about witchcraft?”

 

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

The nurse was very gentle, they always were Grace found, especially after they checked her medical records. She didn't ask many questions but Grace was bursting with them.

That had never happened before. Ever.

“Addy,” Grace said, thankful that her friend knew of her heritage, “something happened,”

Adeline grunted, “yeah I noticed, what was that?”

Grace shook her head, “not sure, but I think I have a theory, and something to sort out,”

“What?”

“Okay,” Grace started, taking a deep breath “in order to find my wand I have to warp the energy of the veil around me and search with, like, a sixth sense kinda thing,” she explained, gesturing with her hands.

“I thought I was getting close, but then I could feel the pull of the veil's waves, which is bad by the way, the veil is kinda like an ocean, and the deeper you get the weirder and darker it is,” Grace said, “it doesn't make much sense, I think, but Aunt Desdemona says that just like the ocean being so huge, and inhabited by all manner of creatures, so is the veil,”

Adeline looked confused, but was hanging onto every word from Grace, “so what? Did you come across soemthing else?”

Grace nodded, “I think so, I thought it was my wand so I tried to pursue it, the creature was too strong though and when I tried to chase I drew too much power and it leaked out of me through my blood,”

Adeline was pale, “that sounds...not good...”

Grace giggled, “yeah, it's not fun, but anyway, I think this thing is here for a reason and it's very close to the edge of the veil,”

“You think it's going to try and come through?” Adeline asked, brown eyes wide in concern.

“Unfortunately,”

Adeline nodded, “right, any idea how to stop it?”

Grace scratched the back of her neck, “yeah but I'm going to need help,”

Adeline grinned, “what do I need to do?”

Grace hoped this would work.

There was no guarentee that Adeline would even be able to see the creature, but someone had to catch it when Grace was distracting it.

“Okay, so here's the plan,” Grace began, opening the lid of the plastic crate in Adeline's arms, “I'll throw this blanket over it and bundle it into the crate then you close it, okay?”

Adeline gulped, “this feels like a bad idea, what if it has claws?”

“Then I guess we'll find out, quiet now, I need to focus,” Grace ordered.

She felt the veil again, mentally reaching out to search for wherever the creature was, and began to full the familiar rolling pull of the veil. Her fingers started tingling and Grace steadied herself to avoid being swept away.

“Got it!” Grace said, running down the school corridor, past the spanish classroom and past all of their lockers, and into the boy's lockeroom.

Adeline groaned, “Gross, in there, really?!” she complained.

Grace nodded, “grim,” she agreed.

Her fingers were bleeding again, but Grace no longer needed to feel the creature, not when she could see it munching on some gross boy's sneakers.

“It's eating sweaty shoes? Who does that?” Adeline whispered, readying the crate.

Grace nodded, “It looks like it has to drop out of the veil to eat, that's useful to know,” she turned her attention to Adeline, “I'm gonna go around and flank it from behind, be ready.”

Sneakily, Grace edged her way around the first locker stands, eyeing the creature squating on the bench. It didn't seem to notice her, or if it did then it didn't care, but Grace couldn't rely on that.

She was crouching behind it, blanket prepared and jumped.

The creature shrieked loudly as Grace bundled it up, dodging it's wriggly black legs thrashing about in it's writhing.

“Does it have claws?!” Adeline shouted, thrusting the crate towards Grace.

Grace yelped, shoving the blanketed creature in the crate and snapping the lid shut, using her body weight to hold it down in Adeline's arms.

“Hey!” Adeline screeched at the deep voice, thrusting the moving crate into Grace's arms in her shock.

Grace grunted, attention split between the wriggling in the box and Steve Palchuck clutching the towel around his middle. Grace rose a brow, she didn't think Palchuck to be the type of guy to wear a towel like a woman.

Adeline had started shouting angrily at Palchuck, and Grace tried to keep the creature silent, panic building inside of her as the creature became more and more agitated.

“Addy!” Grace shouted, trying to get her best friend's attention.

Steve wasn't alone, Claire and her friends had also turned up and Grace had a terrible feeling they knew she was up to something not normal.

“Addy, we gotta go!” She shouted, squeezing the crate and sprinting out of the boys' lockeroom, Adeline hot on her heels, still cussing Steve out.

Grace had always been fast, but apparently so were Jim and his friends, and they gave chase.

Grace and Adeline skidded to a halt where the main hallways met, there were four hallways they could take.

“Split up!” Adeline said, “We'll meet up in the boiler room!”

Grace nodded, “You take the crate,” Adeline looked less than happy at the suggestion, “they've seen me have it, I'll find something else as a decoy,” they heard Jim a corridor behind them and she sprinted off in the opposite direction to Adeline.

Just as Grace assumed, Jim and his friends were chasing her, which meant that Adeline would probably have to deal with Steve. She grinned, dashing into the next empty classroom after a corner.

She ducked behind the closed door and watched as Jim and his friends ran right past her.

Grace let out a sigh of relief and began to look for something to replace her crate.

She was in her English Literature classroom. This was her next period, one which she had with her three pursuers, and would need to work with Claire in.

This was dangerous, she had to deal with the creature before English Lit or Claire would be even more suspicious for her ditching after the chew-out she gave her this morning. It would be hypocritical, and Grace hated hypocrits.

She began to search the cupboards for a similar looking crate and grinned her success when she managed to find one containing a lot of copies of Pride and Prejudice.

Grace groaned, she really didn't want to be found with the teacher's resources for her project, she could get in a lot of trouble for that, but there was no other crate in the room and Jim and his friends would be back soon.

With a great huff, Grace picked the crate up and began to run out of the classroom door, purposely squeaking her sneakers against the linoleum floor to alert Jim and warn Adeline of her position. She needed to lure Jim and his friends away from Adeline and the creature.

Grace waited behind the edge of a line of lockers, catching her breath, when she heard Jim's voice.

“Where did she go? Are you sure it was Grace that had it?” Jim asked, voice echoing down the silent corridor

“Yeah,” Toby said, “Adeline was too busy cussing Steve out, which was awesome by the way, I really thought she was gonna hit him,”

Grace heard Claire scoff, “that's not important, Toby! There's definitely something weird going on her, but Grace? She's not that weird, I've been friends with her since she moved here!”

“That doesn't get her off the hook, we need to know if she's hiding something tollish or not,” Jim stated firmly, footsteps echoing towards Grace.

Grace swallowed thickly, Jim knew about Trolls? In fact they all knew about trolls? Did they also know she was a witch? They might've seen the creature before... but if she was wrong and word got out to Aunt Desdemona that Grace unwittingly revealed their giant secret? It was better to be safe than sorry, Jim and his buddies couldn't know.

Grace took of sprinting again, leading them on a wild goose chase back to her English Lit class and convince them that she was just there early. She could even use the Pride and Prejudice books as a prop, as if she was collecting them for Mrs McKenzie to be used again.

She burst into the classroom, thankful that Mrs McKenzie was there, her teacher jumping in fright at Grace's entrance, quickly followed by Jim, Claire, and Toby.

“Here ya go, Mrs M!” Grace grinned breathily, trying to calm her beating heart, “I collected all the rogue copies of Pride and Prejudice from your students last year,”

Mrs McKenzie gave a cheer, “Thank you, my dear! I've been looking all over for these things!” Mrs McKenzie took the crate and stored it back in the cabinet Grace had taken it from ten minutes ago.

Grace let out a breath of relief, turning around and smiling at Jim, “You alright there? You look out of breath,”

Claire put her hands on her hips, “See Jim? I told you Grace is normal, she was just collecting the last copies of Pride and Prejudice for our class!”

Jim sighed, “I guess you're right, sorry Grace,”

Grace shrugged, “don't worry about it,”

The three went to sit down in their seats, Claire already getting her school supplies out to begin working on her half of their project.

“C'mon, Grace,” she waved her over, but Grace hesitated, aware that Adeline still hadn't come to class yet. She might still be in the boiler room, Grace realised.

Mrs McKenzie spoke then, “Where is Adeline, Grace?” Mrs McKenzie asked, beginning to write on the whiteboard, “You're usually together, yes?”

Grace stuttered, eyes flickering to Jim's suspicious expression, “she's gone to the loo, I'll go get her,” and before Mrs McKenzie could get a word it, Grace was out the door and heading towards the boiler room. This time, Jim and his friends didn't pursue her.

She passed her other classmated, including Steve, but didn't see Adeline among them.

The boiler room wasn't far, but students weren't allowed down there and Grace hoped that Adeline hadn't run into any problems, figuratively and literally.

“Addy,” she whispered in the dark room, hand searching for the lightswitch.

The lights flickered on and Adeline came into view, pale and sigruntled as she sat on the still crate.

Grace rushed down, “has it calmed?” She asked, poking the crate with a curious finger.

Adeline nodded, “I think so, we've got English Lit now though right? We should head back,”

“Yeah, I agree, Jim and his friends nearly caught me, we can come back after school and decide what to do then,”

English Lit was one of Grace's favourite subjects but Claire's incessant digging for information was beginning to make Grace loathe the subject.

Claire knew something was up, that much was obvious, and between their slight bickering about their project and Claire trying to induct Grace into the next school play, there wasn't much time for Grace to think about what to do with the creature.

She still didn't know what it was.

Definitely not a soot pixie, that Grace was certain of. And not a goblin either, despite what she heard Jim and Toby discussing.

Adeline's head was resolutely down against her desk, Shannon trying to explain something. Adeline probably couldn't care less what she was talking about, Grace thought.

“So what're you doing after school?” Claire questioned, and Grace knew she had to be really careful with her reply.

“Hanging out with Addy, the usual,” Grace shrugged, “what about you?”

Claire smiled sneakily, drawing a diagram, “the usual, huh? And where are you going?” It didn't escape Grace's notice that Claire had dodged her question.

Grace shrugged again, “Wherever, we'll decide at home time probably,”

“So you could be staying here?” Claire asked.

“I didn't say that,” Grace said defensively, “why're you so interested anyway? We haven't hung out since you started hanging with Jim and Toby, maybe you've got something to hide,”

Claire laughed nervously, eyes darting to the side as she back up, “what makes you say that? We're doing Romeo and Juliet together so of course we're going to become friends,”

Grace nodded, “yeah, and I'm friends with Addy so of course I'm going to hang out with her,”

Claire seemed to drop it, for now. Grace had a feeling that she would try to get more information again.

The final bell tolled and Grace leapt from her seat, grabbing Adeline by her shirt and quickly walking to the boiler room. She was hoping to use the throng of students to hide in plain sight and lose Jim and his nosy friends.

They waited with baited breath behind the boiler room's door, listening to the dimming noise of foot traffic.

Silence fell and Grace started making her way towards the crate.

It was still again and Grace had a sinking feeling in her gut. She crept forward, reaching into the veil to feel for the creature, but unable to feel anything.

“It's gone,” Grace said, ripping the crate lid open.

Adeline scoffed, “What d'ya mean it's gone?!” She trudged forward, falling to her knees beside Grace and examined the crate.

“It's gone,” Grace repeated, hand feeling around, before slapping her head in realisation.

“It can liquify itself!” Grace said, “That's how it got out, it changed its body to escape!”

Adeline sighed, “So you're telling me that our plan didn't work?”

“Basically,” Grace said, “we gotta get it back,”

“How?” Adeline asked, “if it can turn to liquid then wont we need like a water bottle or something?”

Grace shook her head, “not big enough, maybe we could solidify it?”

Adeline nodded, “and then trap it? What absorbs liquid, that we could find in the school?” she asked.

Grace stood up, beginning to walk to wards the boiler room door again, “Plaster? Flour? Rice? If we use flour then we could potentially bake it,”

“So we're gonna make monster bread? Sounds great, let's give it to Palchuck,” Adeline remarked dryly.

“If we flour it and bake it then it won't have any liquid to draw upon, I don't want to risk it finding another way to trick us,” Grace said, holding the door open for Adeline.

“Why don't we just tell your aunts?” Adeline suggested.

Grace spluttered in shock, “No! Why even suggest that?! As soon as they find out I've been playing with the veil enough to interact with a creature of unknown origin they'll go nuts!” She wailed, missing Adeline's worried expression, “I'll be banned from magic for a week!”

“Might be longer now,” Adeline said sheepishly, gesturing behind Grace.

Grace tensed, “Aw crap, someone's behind me, aren't they?” She whirled around and met the frowning face of Jim Lake Jr, decked out in shiny armour and a big sword.

“So,” Jim started, “nothing weird going on, huh?” He questioned.

Grace grinned teasingly, “nice outfit, Jim, where'd you get that?”

Jim was not as amused as Grace, “I called it with the power of the amulet and now I protect Arcadia from the things that go bump in the night,”

“Yeah,” Toby interjected, “like witches!”

Grace sighed, “Look guys, I don't want any trouble okay, especially from the Trollhunter,” she rubbed the back of her neck, tensing again when Jim and his friends switched to defensive.

“How do you know I'm the Trollhunter?” Jim interrogated, large sword pointed at Grace.

She scoffed, “cool it, hunter-boy, witches and trolls aren't enemies, and this isn't exactly ideal for me either, we all have our secret y'know.”

Jim relaxed somewhat, lowering his sword, “so you didn't summon that weird gooey thing running around?”

“No,” Grace said, “I merely felt it with my magic through the veil, I'm trying to send it back over somehow,”

“The veil?” Claire questioned, open and curious, she didn't seem intimidated by the revelation that Grace was a witch.

Adeline stepped forward, “it's a witchy thing, the place between worlds or whatever, I don't really get it either,”

Tody spoke this time, “you're not a witch?” he peered at Adeline.

“Nope, just caugth Grace doing a spell one day,” she grinned mischeviously, “she was grounded for two weeks afterwards,”

“Wait, wait, you're aunts are witches too?” Claire said, “That is so cool!”

Grace threw her hands up in exasperation, “Not cool! And if you guys tell _anyone_ we'll all be in big trouble!”

“Don't worry,” Jim said, trying to calm Grace, “we won't tell if you don't tell, deal?” he offered his hand to Grace.

The witch uncrossed her arms, and smiled crookedly, “deal, but don't forget,” she leered, “if you tell anyone I'll turn you all into toads!”

Toby yelped, “Please don't! Chompsky would eat me!”

“What's a 'chompsky?'” Adeline asked, hand on her hip.

Toby grinned, “a gnome we caught, he lives in my nana's dollhouse,”

Grace barked out a laugh, “you're keeping a gnome as a pet!? That's hilarious!” She chortled, hand over her mouth as she wondered what trouble they must be getting into, “a gnome!”

“You know about gnomes?” Claire asked,

Grace nodded, quieting her laughter, “I'm a witch, I know a lot of things, like how we've gotta catch that creature asap!”

“Creature?” Jim interjected once again, “you don't know what it is?”

Grace shooked her head, reaching out once mor einto the veil to search for it, “nope, but I can sense it, I need to see it properly first,”

Jim nodded, “right, and after you find it?”

“It seems to be made of a gelatinous consistency, and can take a more liquid form, our plan is to use flour or something and bake it to stop it from turning liquid and escaping us,” Grace explained, searching through the home economics classroom to find a bag of flour.

“Bake it? Won't that kill it?” Claire questioned,

Grace shook her head, “maybe but I doubt it, most creatures from the veil can't be killed that easily, hence why I'm just sending it back, it'll be quicker too.”

“I got flour!” Toby shouted, running over to Grace and shoving the bag into her hands.

“Great!” Grace said, grinning, “Everyone else grab a bag too, we might miss on the first go,”

“Okay, so what's the plan?” Jim asked, looking ready as ever in his shiny armour. Grace could feel envy bubble in her stomach.

She placed her bag on the counter, removing her notebook and a fluffy pen, “we need to direct it into the oven while covered in flour, I think the best way would be to create a diversion course from the doorway to the oven itself and someone can chase it intot he room,”

“right,” Jim said, “I'll do that,”

Grace shook her head, “not alone, you won't be able to find it without my magic anyway,”

Adeline nodded, “yeah, and the rest of us can stay here, droppingt he flour on it at intervals and usher it into the oven.”

“You think it'll work?” Claire asked,

Grace nodded, “maybe, but it's all we've got, let's go, Jim,”

Grace and Jim lift the other three to construct the makeshift diversion course, and started walking down the corridor. Grace concentrating on finding the creature.

“So, you're a witch, huh? Never saw that coming,” Jim said conversationally.

Grace grinned, “Really? Even with Palchuck's insistence?”

Jim chuckled, “he says that about the kids who wear black,”

“regardless, anyway you can't talk Mr Trollhunter,” she joked, “I heard rumours that a human picked up the amulet but I never guessed it would be you,”

Jim chuckled again, “Gee thanks, Grace, I didn't exactly ask for this,”

Grace smiled wistfully, “you'll find not many of us do,”

“Is that why you moved here? Because Arcadia isn't like other towns?”

The witch sighed, “one of them, my parents did die, which everyone now knows thanks to Mary, but the other was my aunts insisting I join their coven,”

“Witches actually have covens?” Jim seemed surprised.

Grace grinned, “yeah, we even fly on brooms, I wasn't originally going to be one but I got no choice now, besides magic isn't so bad. I'm not gonna go really deep into it or anything,”

“why not?” he asked.

“Not all magics are good, Jim, just how not all trolls are good, I've seen enough dark magic to put me off it forever,” Grace shuddered, the faces of her dead parents flickering by, but Jim had the sense not to press her. Grace was grateful for his understanding.

Suddenly, Grace felt a disturbance in the veil, and tugged at it, finding their little creature,

“I got it,” Grace said, alerting Jim.

He unsheathed his massive sword and waited with baited breath, focused on Grace's face as she creeped around the corner.

“It's there,” she whispered, “can you see it?”

Jim squinted, “yeah but it's hazy, like I'm seeing it out of the corner of my eye,”

Grace nodded, “probably glamour, I was born with the Sight so I can see it clearly, I'm going to go around and usher it to you okay, and then you chase it to the home ec room.”

Jim nodded, but made a mental note to ask Grace about the whatever the Sight was afterwards.

Grace rounded the corner, the fat little gooey thing was feasting on something again and she prayed to Hekate that trusting Jim was the right thing to do. She didn't have much choice now though, she reasoned.

Grace shrieked, startling the creature, and it instantly bounded down the corridor looking for an escape.

It was fast, faster than she anticipated and soon enough the creature was nearing the T turn where Jim was waiting to direct it left.

“Jim!” Grace shouted out in warning and the creature shrieked once more as the Trollhunter jumped out from the turning, forcing the creature into their trap, Grace and Jim hot on its heels.

It trailed black goo along the floor and Grace grimaced as she realised that it would be hell to clean up when they were finished capturing it. Home ec was just ahead of them, a few more feet and the creature would meet a flour weilding Adeline at the door and be ushered inside.

Adeline threw her flour and true to Grace's theory it began to dry up, halting it's liquidising abilities as it frantically ran around.

“Addy!” Grace called out, but the creature was smarter than she anticipated and began pawing at the cardboard and plastic tunnel they had created, smashing its body against it to break an opening.

“It's trying to escape again!” Adeline shouted, “It's breaking it!”

Grace looked around the room, spotting Jim doing the same, no doubt trying to come up with a solution to stop it too.

But now, Grace was able to get a good look at it, and as the creature struggled against Toby holding the wall intact she examined it.

“I've seen this before,” Grace said, “in Aunt Desdemona's lessons!”

Adeline shrieked, throwing more flour at it, “Well, what is it then!?”

Grace grimaced, leaning over the tunnel to reach her bag, “I can't remember, it's in my book!” The bag was just out of reach, and if she leaned any more then the creature could reach up and grab her.

“Claire!” Grace called out, “get the journal out of my bag! It's got my notes in it!”

Claire threw her bag of flour, “I really don't think Pride and Prejudice is gonna help here, Grace!”

“Not those notes! My witchcraft notes! I need them!” Grace insisted, “Throw it to me!”

Claire didn't waste anytime, keeping her eyes on the creature as she hopped around the island, fishing inside of Grace's bag to find the journal.

“Which on is it!?” Claire asked as she frantically searched, “And why so many noughat nummies!?”

Grace pushed against the tunnel as the creature tried to escape from her side, “Does that really matter!? It's leather with a crystal in the centre of the cover!”

“Got it!” Claire shouted, throwing the journal at Grace.

Grace caught it, and instantly used her magic to skip pages, urging the veil to search the journal and match the image in her mind with the diagram on the paper.

Pages flitted by, Jim gasped in amazement, and Grace beagn to feel the beginning of a breeze pick up around her with the weakening of the veil's walls.

“It's a Beelfgog!” Grace shouted in excitement, “a lesser demon born from uncontrollable gluttony! That's why it keeps eating!”

“Great!” Jim shouted back, “How do we get rid of it?! Still using the oven?!”

Grace shook her head frantically, “no! I was wrong! If we harm it then it'll call for help and with others they form into a much bigger beelfgog!”

“Then what do we do?!” Toby shouted, batting the beeflgog away with a frying pan.

“We feed it! Give it as much as you can!” Grace grinned, rushing away to pull as much ingredients out of the home ec cabinets as she could carry,

“Feed it?!” Adeline didn't sound convinced but she did as Grace said, and began throwing packs of flour at it, watching in horror as it opened it;s grotesque mouth and swallowed them whole.

“More!” Grace shouted, and quickly the beeflgog kept expanding, trying to contain all the food it could in its body.

Claire threw a spoon at it, “it's going to explode!”

“That's the idea!” Grace grinned at her, “or it'll get so full that it must return to the far side of the veil!”

It didn't return to the veil.

A loud pop resounded and all five teenagers were coated in the gooey black substance. Grace grimaced as she looked at the mess around her.

The five stood there, relief and disgust on their faces.

Jim broke the silence first, “not bad, Augustine, you're pretty useful in a pinch,” he complimented.

Grace grinned, “you're not so bad yourself,”

Adeline grimaced, “nice as this is guys, we got a lot of cleaning to do,”

Claire nodded, “know any spells to clean this all up, Grace?”

The witch shrugged, “I can probably enthrall an animal to help but that might just make it worse,”

“So by hand then?” Toby asked,

Grace nodded, “unfortunately, I can heat water up quickly though,”

“Woah really!?” The excitable boy asked, fists clenched as he gazed up at Grace with what could only be admiration.

Claire produced a bucket with cold water and a few rags. Grace grasped the rim of the bucket lightly, the tips of her fingers just gently touching the water line when it began to simmer, unhurt by the boiling water.

She retracted her hand and watched in amusment as the others tried to reason what she just did.

“You're gonna be useful,” she heard Jim mutter from beside her,

“no, not as much as you want me to be,” Grace said, “I'm still training and my aunts are scrupilous, I'm not even supposed to be associating with trolls right now, let alone the Trollhunter!”

Jim looked confused, “I though you said witches and trolls were friends?”

“We are,” Grace said, “but I'm still a novice and if my aunts find out I told you I'm a witch I'll be grounded for, like, a month or so for slacking off,”

Jim grimaced, “they sound...strict,”

“and demanding!” Toby decided to add.

Grace shook her head, “it's a lot of hard work, if I dabble into the veil too much, or become to powerful then I could have demons after me, and not just little ones like the beeflgog,”

“Demons?!” Claire nearly screamed, “demons are real?!”

“yeah they're real, and really mean too, especially when they team up with bad trolls,” Grace explained.

“Oh, I get it,” Jim said, mopping the floor, “if a demon or troll sees you with us, you're worried that they'll assume we're partners and team up to take us down?”

Grace nodded, “something like that, it's been a while since trolls and witches worked together, I don't want to arouse suspicion,”

Jim smiled, “then we keep it on the down low,”

“yeah,” Claire piped in, “it looks like we could both use the help of the other,”

Toby whooped, pumping his fist in the air, “we'll be super secret buddies! Also can you turn Steve into a frog for me?”

Grace chortled, “I wish! I can barely turn a whistle into a pocket watch! My levitation skills are pretty good though, so I'll help you move furniture,”

Adeline moved to Grace's side, heaving her bucket of black slushy water to her, “whatta we do with this?”

Grace frowned, “pour it down the sink, it wont be able to reform now that it's exploded, and the others wont come after us, beeflgogs die of eating too much all the time.”

They did as Grace said, removing all remaining traces of the beeflgog from the school.

“Thanks, Grace,” Jim said, “I'll see you around, huh?”

Grace chuckled, “obviously, we're in the same class,”

They parted ways, Grace walked Adeline home and she stood staring up at the great electronic gates of her aunts' manor.

Friends with the Trollhunter. Grace presumed there were worse friends she could make, and a small part of her hoped that maybe they might even help her find her wand. Wherever it may be.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

“It can take years to develop a craft”

“Which craft are you involved in? Which craft are you involved in?”

“Witchcraft? Who said anything about witchcraft?” - adapted from Sabrina the Teenage Witch

 

let me know what you think guys! also can you guess what Grace's wand will be?

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

“Give a witch a spell and she'll cast for a day. Teach a witch to cast and she'll cast for a lifetime.”

 

 

“Broom flying has been a part of witch nature since the early 5th Century and was discovered when – Grace!” Aunt Desdemona's strict voice screeched into her ears, causing Grace to jump out of her daydream and look up sheepishly at her aunt.

Aunt Desdemona's face was pinched in tightly with her scowl, Chanel glasses hanging low on her nose as she glared at Grace. Her niece swallowed thickly, rubbing the back of her neck, and Grace knew that whatever her aunt was trying to teach her was going to have to be learnt the hard way.

“If you won't learn through _listening_ ,” Aunt Desdemona started sharply, “then you will learn through _doing,”_

Aunt Desdemona snatched the hood of Grace's jacket, pulling her upwards and walking briskly to the french doors that led to the gardens.

She was talking about flying, Grace knew that much, and she had a sneaking suspicion that her theory lesson was about to beome practical.

Grace had never flown before, discounting planes at least, and she could feel the icy grip of fear clutching at her, pulling its way through her excitement. Adeline was going to be so mad she missed this, Grace thought, and it was the thoughts of Adeline that reminded her of her new potential friends.

So far, she had successfully avoided letting her secret loose around her aunts. Grace imagined that Aunt Cereza probably wouldn't mind, she was always the gentle one and emphasised the importance of companionship. Aunt Desdemina however was more inclined to instill the importance of their secret being kept.

The American magical society had never recovered from the Salem witch trials. Grace found herself more aware of them now that she was in America compared to Britain, but that lingering hatred and fear of witches still permeated the air even in the 21st Century. It was this history that forced Grace's silence, her parents had made the grave error of diving too deep into the abyss beyond the veil, the very same mistake witches of old committed. They were caught and executed by those who feared them. Grace understood. Magic was volatile and dangerous, demons crossed over and began to reveal their true nature to the ones who had summoned them.

“Come along, Graceling,” Aunt Desdemona said, leading her into a large, empty area of the gardens, “here I shall teach you how to fly,”

Grace didn't seem convinced.

Aunt Desdemona held two brooms in each hand. One was carved from the darkest, soothest wood and tailed by large white swan feathers, crystals were inlaid into the brooms tip, and Desdemona clutched it with the familiarity only years of companionship could hone.

In her other hand was a basic crow feathered broom. It was battered and worn, and but had belonged as the training broom to the Augustine family for generations.

Grace's hand wrapped around the wood and she mounted the broom with hesitation, swallowing back her nerves.

“Most witches learn to fly after procuring their wand at a young age, however,” Aunt Desdemona eyed Grace, and she felt small under her gaze, “as your wand has not revealed itself yet, and you are nearly an adult, we will begin your practical flying lessons immediately,”

Grace nodded, running her hands over the carved wood of her broom, half-listening to Aunt Desdemona as she felt a shift in the veil again. She scrunched her brow in confusion, wondering if it was her wand or another beeflgog.

“perhaps this way you'll learn faster than from books,” Aunt Desdemona said, before Grace was thrown up into the air.

She let out a peircing scream, the air knocked form her lungs as she kept ascending higher and higher upside down. Grace could see her two aunts on the ground below, Aunt Cereza poised with her fan out and creating gusts of wind.

Grace managed to control her scream, and swallowed back her fear. She was falling very, very quickly, and Aunt Cereza had ceased making gusts of wind.

It was up to her, Aunt Desdemona's practical lessons were always hard, and always required for Grace to take action lest she fall victim to the magic she sought to control.

Control. Control. She had to control. Grace willed herself to focus and steady her broom. What was it Aunt Desdemona said? Grace cursed her daydreaming habits, wishing she had paid more attention to her schooling.

Balance, it had something to do with balance? And maybe the veil was involved? A reasonable assumption, Grace thought, considering the veil was often tapped into when magic was used.

The wind was biting at her as she fell, and Grace was beginning to feel light headed. Surely her aunts would catch her if she failed. But if she failed then Aunt Desdemona would be even more gruelling in her lessons.

Grace reached out into the veil, feeling for the line to break and carry her on the waves through the air.

At least, that's what Grace had managed to work out from what she had actually learned from Aunt Desdemona, and what she had felt by touching the veil. Intuition could either be a witch's greatest assent, or their deadliest foe.

Grace took a deep breath, and focused on riding the first veil wave she could find.

A twitch, goosebumps and theh the brush of something old, something ancient. Grace grinned, and threw herself onto the first wave break she could find, thankful for years of her aunts taking her surfing when she was young.

She wasn't as good as she used to be, or rather the step from surfing to flying was rather large, but Grace calmed her beating heart and focused on the wave she rode instead.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. And promptly came crashing down to the ground below.

Aunt Cereza had used a gust of wind to cushion her fall, but Grace still groaned when her back hit the grass, and she still cursed the Gods as her vision swam.

“I think she did rather well for her first attempt,” said Aunt Desdemona's blurry form leaning over Grace, “but she has a lot of work to do,”

Aunt Cereza smiled sweetly, “fortunately, I mixed up a batch of pain relief potion,”

Grace groaned, slinging an arm over her eyes to shield from the burning sun. She also made a mental note to practice her protection wards spells, that would've been useful before she hit the ground.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Fortunately, Aunt Cereza's lessons were far less physically demanding than Aunt Desdemona's.

Aunt Cereza was easily Grace's favoured tutor. She was fun, lively, and let Grace listen to music while working on her alchemy and potion making.

Grace liked her subjects the most, they required more herbal knowledge than magical skill and where Grace found herself lacking in the spellcasting department she more than made up for it with her crafting abilities.

Potion making was easier, more akin to cooking than anything else, and Grace had always enjoyed mixing ingredients together to test their benefits. Aunt Cereza had even suggested Grace search for an apprenticeship with one of the Grand Apothecaries in the Citadel back in Britain, but Grace doubted they would even consider her without a wand.

Again, it all came back to her lack of wand.

Most children found their wands before puberty, usually around aged ten, but Grace was nearly sixteen, and her lack of wand was becoming a serious issue. Her lessons had slowed down, and Grace had time to attend an acual non-magical school.

“Gracie!” Aunt Cereza squealed, “watch how much rosemary you put in there!” Grace's cauldrom bubbled worryingly, and it was then she realised that while thinking she had absentmindedly been adding more and more rosemary.

“Oh, dear,” Grace said, wincing at the sweet cloying smell, “I don't think this is a simple energy potion any more,” Aunt Cereza coughed as she tried it.

“I agree, I don't think anyone would need coffee ever again,” she said, bottling up a small sample and putting it into a large brown crate, “we'll keep a sample, but it'd be best if no human consumed this,”

Grace shrugged, “sorry, I gotta lot on my mind, I just can't stop thinking about my wand,”

Aunt Cereza smiled gently, placing the crate down, and situated herself beside Grace on a stool. Her neice looked dejected, head hanging low and absently scratching her nail againt the wood grain.

“Gracie,” Aunt Cereza began, gently cupping Grace's restless hands, “some witches do find their wands prematurely, but even those that don't still have a place in the magical world.,”

Grace sighed, “I'm too old for this, how can I be an Augustine and not be a proper witch?”

“And how does one define ' _proper witch_ '?” Aunt Cereza asked.

Grace thought for a moment, “I'm not sure, but Google says ' _a woman thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones, popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak and pointed hat and flying on a broomstick_ ',” Grace replied, showing Aunt Cereza her phone.

Aunt Cereza shook her head, “Nonesense, witches and magic are not evil, in fact there is no such thing as 'evil',”

“No such thing?” Grace raised an eyebrow, “then how come we're told not to venture too far into the veil unless we're destined to fall into it?”

“past the veil is the abyss, you know this,” Grace nodded, eyes wide and mind open to receive Aunt Cereza's mental images, “long ago, one such wizard ventures too far into the veil, and in his struggle to free himself he was swallowed by the abyss.” Aunt Cereza said, imagining the account in great detail, “The abyss is a place few dare tread and even ferwer return from, and those that do are never the same again,”

Grace perked up, “like Oracles? I read that they spent too much time wandering and ended up tapping into the Well of Magic,”

“almost, some Oracles enter voluntarily, and others are forced so they can reveal the deepest of magics, one of them is abyss-bending,” Aunt Cereza explained, opening an old witchcraft textbook Grace had never seen again.

Grace was confused, “abyss-bending? That sounds...not good,” her tongue felt heavy, a sour taste lingered upon it.

Aunt Cereza never held back information, that was one of the things Grace loved about her so, but she hesitated to reveal the true nature of abyss-bending to her neice. Grace hadn't even found her wand, and there was a distinct possibility that she never would.

She did not want Grace to pursue the search for her wand any longer. It was the only thing she argued with her wife about.

Grace's desperation tangible, and Aunt Cereza worried that beings of a darker nature would notice, and offer her an opportunity she couldn't refuse. If Grace signed a contract, she would be lost forever, it was a worry that almost all magical parents had to face, but a witch's wand acted like a shield from the temptation.

Grace was the eldest witch she ever heard of not finding their wand.

Desdemona's response to their niece's potential threat was to train the girl as hard and efficiently as possible, to draw upon the magic of their family's blood and force a wand to present itself. It was risky, but Grace would be well-protected if they succeeded. This course of action had also yielded successful results when used previously.

But Grace wasn't like other witches, Aunt Cereza thought, and Desdemona's way just wasn't working. They couldn't waste any more time, they needed to hide Grace, to remove her completely from the magical life and cut off all ties It would break Grace's heart, but a broken heart was better than a deceased one.

“yes,” Aunt Cereza finally said, “it is definitely 'not-good'.”

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Grace told Adeline what her Aunt Cereza had said immediately when she arrived at school the next morning.

“I don't like it,” Adeline said, throwing a paper ball at Steve Palchuck's head, “being a witch is dangerous enough, if you go looking deeply, you cold, like, die or something,” she said to Grace.

The witch nodded, “it's a risk, I know, but I won't go looking unprepared,” she pulled out her notebook and handed it to Adeline, “i've been researching ways to protect myself; there's potions, enchantments, spells, trinkets!”

Adeline had to admit she was impressed that Grace had the balls to do this, and the rebellious, adventurous teenager part of herself begged to go along with whatever cool magic stuff Grace was doing. Adeline didn't want to go back to her boring old life before magic, but she also didn't want her best friend to hurt herself.

“Whatcha lookin' for?!”

Grace jumped, narrowing her eyes at Jim's sudden appearance, “something important, why do you wanna know?”

Jim smiled sheepishly, “no reason, no reason,” Grace raised an eyebrow, “but if there was a reason, say, for example, I saw a really weird magic troll, you wouldn't happen to be able to tell me who is, right?”

The witch snorted back her laughter, “I'm a witch not a Trollhunter! You're far more likely to know than me,”

Jim shrugged, “yeah I guess, no harm in asking though, especially with how weird our town is,”

Grace's attention was pulled away from Jim and his friends by Coach Lawrence talking about guts and juices and bubbling nasty soup. Not the nicest imagery, Grace thought.

The Trollhunter had asked her for help, Jim had asked her for help, and with the way he, Claire, and Toby were staring at her hopefully, Grace found it difficult to say no.

“I'll have a look in my textbooks and see what I can find, is there anything else you can tell me about him?” Grace finally said.

Jim grinned in triumph and slapped Grace on the back, “Thanks, Grace!”

She chuckled back, and immediately shifted to Adeline, “i have an idea!”

Adeline crossed her arms and shook her head slowly, “you're definitely gonna die young,”

Coach Lawrence was decidely bad at health education, Grace decided, she had never seen a teacher bumble around so proficiently when it came to explaining the digestive track. She was looking forward to learning about the reproductive system.

“Hey, Coach!” Steve began and Grace heard Adeline hold back a groan, “don't mean to 'butt' in, but I'd like to 'gas' a question?” Giggles erupted around the classroom, though Grace noticed Claire looked decidedly unamused.

“Hey, poo's laughing?” Steve asked, and Grace felt laughter bubble up through her.

Coach Lawrence was not happy, “Watch it, Palchuck!” He warned, pointing a finger at Steve, Grace was almost certain he would be leaving the lesson with a detention.

“This, this is serious!” Steve joked, causing the class to laugh again.

Grace let another giggle loose but quickly swallowed back the rest when she saw Jim's face, he looked less than impressed with Steve's antics.

“Hey!” Jim said sharply, “why don't you shut your hole, Steve?”

The class erupted again, and Grace chortled when Jim face-palmed, inciting Coach Lawrence's wrath once more.

“Oh! That's it, jokers!” Coach Lawrence shouted, face like a big red ball and pointing finger shaking, “Both of you, principle's office, now!”

Jim and Steve all but bounced out of the classroom, the swagger only teenage boys seemed to possess rolling off their shoulders and reinvigorating the laughter from before. Even sensible Claire let a giggle slip at Jim's retort.

Grace pointed it out to Adeline, whispering behind a manicured hand.

Toby and Claire looked worried, Grace noticed, and she careful slid her chair over to Claire's.

“What's wrong?” Grace asked, “worried Strickler is gonna eat him or somethin'?”

Claire looked at her with mild panic, “Jim didn't tell you?!” she whispered in exhasperation before turning to Toby, “he didn't tell them!”

Toby held his hands up in defensive, “I didn't know either!”

Adeline was scowling fiercely at Claire, ready to pounce, “Tell us what?!” she demanded.

Toby looked worriedly at Coach Lawrence's steely glare, “we'll tell you after school, but we gotta go somewhere first,” he whispered.

Claire looked worried again, “the Trollmarket? Will they even be allowed in, I nearly wasn't,”

Grace gasped, excitement rising inside her, “The Trollmarket! Seriously?!”

“Shhhh!” Claire hushed her, “we gotta keep it quiet,”

Adeline scoffed, crossing her arms again, “the Trollmarket? That's real? I thought it only existed in myth and that crazy monster director guy's stuff?”

Grace grinned at her, “It's real! I've been to the one beneath London Bridge, it's huge!”

Claire fought back a squeal, “There's one in London?!”

Grace nodded energetically, “yeah! I knew there was one somewhere around Arcadia but I never imagined being able to enter!”

“But wait,” Toby interjected, “Claire has a point, will you even be allowed in?”

Grace considered their words, tugging at her hair as she thought.

It was a risk, again, but eerything seemed to be a risk these days and some of the ingredients she needed to create her protection charms could be found in a Trollmarket. Grace would also be able to be around magical artefacts and probably stock up on her mineral ingredients, realistically she would've had to find a Trollmarket anyway, so surely there was no harm in visiting this one with the Trollhunter himself.

“I'll be fine, I'm a witch and witches and trolls have good relations,” Grace turned to look at Adeline, “and Addy has spent so much time with me my magic can blanket her,”

Adeline cracked a grin, “sounds fun and dangerous, when do we go?”

Toby grinned, “after school, we'll get Jim and head to the bridge,”

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

As promised, the three Trollhunters told Grace and Adeline everything that hadtranspired over the last two months.

“That's heavy,” Adeline said, “and you think there are more changlings than Strickler and Ms. Nomura?”

Jim nodded before skidding to a halt on his bike, “positive, some might've fled though since the bridge was destroyed and Bular defeated,”

Adeline frowned, aware of Grace's unusual silence.

“Grace? You good?” She asked the witch tentively.

Grace nodded, “yeah, I'm just connecting all the dots now, my aunts coming home late and leaving early, my increased lessons and the disturbance of the veil, all that had to do with Killahead Bridge? I wonder if it's all connected...” she trailed off deep in thought.

Jim frowned, “connected? You think there's more to this than we know?”

Shrugging, Grace leaned her bike against the canal wall, “maybe? Lesser demons have been popping up everywhere, and even though I'm not on the council, I have heard the rumours from the Arcadia coven...”

“then maybe we should look out for this,” Claire suggested, “if trolls and witches both operate in similar worlds then perhaps the threat is shared too,”

Toby nodded, “we gotta talk to Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!!”

“Who are they?” Adeline asked.

Jim smiled, “friends, Blinky is my mentor and trainer, too,”

Grace nodded, understanding dawning on her face, “I get it, he's like your magical tutor but for troll stuff,”

“yeah, pretty much,” Jim said, “anyway, what should we do about Strickler? I should've pulled Daylight on him right then and there.”

Claire crossed her arms, “Steve wouldv'e gone bananas,”

“isn't he already?” Adeline added dryly.

“It's probably good you waited,” Tody said, “I imagine murdering your principal looks pretty bad on your college application,”

Jim sighed, digging through his schoolbag, “I'll just have to wait an get him alone,” he paused, a strange look on his face before his eyes snapped up to Grace, “he doesn't know you're a witch, does he?”

Grace shrugged, “not that I know of, but if he's a changeling then it won't be long before he figures it out, providing he hasn't already,”

Jim hummed in thought, pulling a glowing orange crystal from his bag.

Suddenly, Claire gasped and spun around, clearly disturbed by something as she gazed around the dry canal. Crows cawed, and rats scuttled, but Grace could see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

“I just got a weird feeling,” she explained, shivering slightly.

Grace narrowed her eyes and raised her hand, feeling through the veil for any signs of any threat but found none

“I usually have one of those after school lunch,” Toby joked, easing Claire, but Grace wasn't so easily calmed.

She spread her fingers and pushed harder, and yet still yielded nothing, she didn't even notice Jim drawing a hole onto the wall of the canal beneath the bridge.

“Grace?” Adeline pulled her out of the veil, concerned expression eating into Grace. She had to be more careful.

“Sorry,” Grace finally said, watching in awe again as the door way to the Trollmarket opened behind them.

Jim didn't seem phased, “c'mon, Blinky said he had something important to tell us about,”

Grace nodded and walked forward in the glowing, swirling magic, gently tugging on Adeline's shirt to guide her through her amazed state.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0

 

“Give a witch a spell and she'll cast for a day. Teach a witch to cast and she'll cast for a lifetime.” - from the 'Give a fish' quote

 

Wheewwww! 3 chapter in 2 days! I haven't written this much in ages! Also just so you guys know, this is based on S1 E16, I will have the witches invovled in some Trollhunter plotline but I kinda want to branch off and make my own, I'll interweave them, kinda like how 3Below and Trollhunters crossovered a bit,

 

anyway, let me know what you think guys!

 


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